Wenger: World Cup will affect transfer business

Arsene Wenger says that this summer’s World Cup will have an impact on the transfer business the club will do.

The tournament in Brazil will see most of the world’s top players in action, and that will hamper efforts to reinforce the squad. Quoted in the Mirror, the Arsenal manager said, “From my experience, the World Cup years have always been very quiet until the end of the World Cup, with no players reachable.

“Everybody is focused in the country on their national team and there’s not a lot happening. People are away. I believe this year again you will have to wait until July 15 to start going.

“You are not the only one who decides when the business is done because it’s down to availability of players and the clubs who sell decide that.”

But he did say expects to be active in the market once things get going, and is keen on retaining as many of the current squad as possible.

“It will be busy,” he said, “but the main thing for us will be to keep the stability because we feel we are close. We want to add something that makes us even stronger, but, number wise, it will not be massive.”

135 COMMENTS

“You are not the only one who decides when the business is done because it’s down to availability of players and the clubs who sell decide that.”

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And how many years have we heard that?

Every transfer window there appears to be some excuse from Wenger as to why it will be difficult to bring in the players we want. Conveniently, it’s a World Cup year, so that’s the running line we’ll get this summer, but we heard the exact same words last summer (with respect to the market being pressured by the demand for strikers, nobody’s doing business, etc.).

I’m so, so tired of hearing this. If it’s meant to lower our expectations, it’s an insult to our intelligence. If it’s meant to excuse another last-minute trolley dash, or worse, nothing at all, it’s an insult to how this club needs to operate, and completely anomalous in terms of how other comparable clubs seem able to manage.

…and look, I get why the above will an unpopular opinion, but I’d love to hear someone deny that this is a familiar refrain from Wenger. Does this make you uncomfortable because it’s untrue, or because you just can’t bear to hear criticism of Arsenal, however justified? For the record, I’d love for Wenger to have one more chance to build…but then I hear this record playing again, and I foresee another haphazard approach to transfers.

His sentiments make us the victim of circumstance rather than agents who circumvent challenges to make deals happen. I get that it’s difficult to make a transfer. It’s difficult for everyone, but to make our difficulty solely the problem of what others do, it conveniently absolves our club’s managers of responsibility for any future failures to address what this team clearly needs. I object to this kind of thinking.

Bunburyist, I can’t say that I oppose anything you’ve said. You’ve put it very well. If Arsene did indeed say these things (this article is quoting the Mirror, a paper I wouldn’t exactly rely on) then I’m very concerned with this transfer window. Arsene’s also made some other comments recently with regard to the collapse this season that are not encouraging in terms of adding significant depth to a team that perennially suffers from a large number of injuries to key players. The rhetoric hasn’t even been encouraging in terms of genuinely intending to address the reason(s) behind why the players are constantly getting injured. It can’t all be coincidence that we have so many injured. But, there’s no real point in second guessing what we’ve come to expect — a transfer deadline melee. Mind you, we did get Poldi and Giroud earlier in their window, which wasn’t a WC year. However, you’re spot on in terms of not seeing Arsenal actively seek out their desired players and paying clubs the kind of money that they won’t think twice about making a deal prior to the WC. It’s just not what we’re about. And to think we are, is out of line with everything Arsenal has ever done. With all that said, I do think we’re close and I’m not pushing to have an overhaul or a flooding of new players. I just want us to show commitment to getting the players we need and without the fear that clubs are adding premiums to those we want. Be smart and pay what’s necessary to get us 2-3 needed positions. For me, it’s CDM and Striker. Let’s see what happens with TV5 and Sagna (replacements might be necessary there too).

1) Critical of him not spending enough money to garner a top top top top quality player. What is Ozil?

2) What is Flamini? What is top quality? Flamini has been instrumental in adding bite to our midfield. how much did we pay?

3) So now the criticism shifts to Wenger should use the money better and buy a wide range of medium to good players instead of Ozil. What is Spurs? 100m anyone?

4) What is organic development? Walcott and Ramsey were deemed useless two seasons ago, many here wanted them sold.

5) Granted there are complications bc we lose likely 3 players, but 2 of those positions are bc the players feel they do not play enough. So the reverse angle is how do you keep a big squad happy. We have a squad equal in depth and quality to Man City bar one key area

6) Striker. yes we are short on capability, crucially speed and trickery but remember, Giroud hasn;t been trash either. He has plundered 21 goals and a healthy assists number for a ‘limited’ player. 15 goals in the league is comparable to Aguero at 16 and Negredo is 6 behind at 9 goals. he is also more robust (so Wenger doesn’t just buy injury duds it seems)

Remember how much we paid for him compared to City’s strikers

granted Wenger needs to reinforce/renew and buy a new capability up front to add some magic, but do not confuse your shallow arguments for constructive criticism. They are merely red herrings.;)

…the sound of the familiar refrain is merely an echo of your own self imposed sentiments on the subject.

Honestly, I don’t see how your points change the fact that we’ve operated in a haphazard way in the transfer window (please don’t tell me that Ozil and Flamini were planned), and that Wenger has used external circumstances to absolve the club of mismanaging these very same windows.

You suggest that the refrain is an echo of my own making. That I’ve made up the words–they are self-created–but I would submit that the quotes above were from Wenger’s mouth (not mine, unless my mind has created words that were picked up by the media) and that he has made similar statements or excuses in every transfer window for some time.

Also, could you please clarify “red herrings” here? I hope that’s not an argumentative throwaway, dropped in the hopes of its rhetorical (rather than logical) potency. My point is that attributing difficulty to external circumstances alone is troubling, and protects responsibility by negating agency. I think this sort of thing has been habitual in terms what comes out of AFC and Wenger. It’s a very different governing assumption, for example, to say “we don’t have the money to compete for the best,” which puts the onus on us, than saying “it depends on what others do, not what we do.”

Is it just me who currently feel sick of all the optimistic fans who keeps going on about how Wenger is a football genius and that he’s had limitations on the transfermarket without any proof supporting their claims?

He has had money, atleast this is what Gazidis have been telling us. Arsenal not spending money is a work signed Arsene Wenger, and not somebody else. Wenger was a fantastic manager for us but now he really needs to go..

People saying that this season was a step in the right direction are misstaken. The only positive thing about this season is the consistency we have showed against the average teams in the BPL, we’ve lost (Understatement of the year) against Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool etc etc.

Against the other 3 teams above us we have only won 1 match out of 6, so tell me except from the consistency against weaker teams than ours. If the team is not capable of beating the other top teams which they obviously wasn’t in those matches if you ever watched them.. Optimistic fans will argue that they got humiliated because of injuries on Walcott, Özil and Ramsey. I bet to differ, remember the city game anyone?

We’ve gotten destroyed this season we have a really good midfield but upfront we need a way better striker than the one we currently have. Where is the ambitions from Wenger’s side? If he doesn’t spend anything this summer on good enough players which will strengthen the team he must go.. Fans can argue how much they like, nobody is bigger than the club. The club is more important than one legend in the club…

I will remember every nick on this thread that’s ignored the fact we were funding a bloody stadium, and only last year were we able to be competitive in the transfer market. Cue Ozil. A warning sign of wonderful (hopefully) things to come.

All of Santori’s point are spot on, and once Wenger’s done with transfer dealings and we ride high in the league next year, powered by a Holy Shit! signing, I will name you and shame all of you. Eat bloody humble pie, all of you degenerate Gen Y no-such-thing-as-delayed-gratification plastic fans.

What on earth are you talking about. Funding a stadium? Bollox! Have you seen the accounts? We are positively rolling in spare cash which will only swell further with the increased TV, sponsorship money.

Wenger has become a massive ditherer in the transfer market. How many more times must the glaringly obvious gaps in our squad and first team be ignored?

There is cash NOW, but to paint the picture that it was there all of the last 8-9 years is pure fiction. Just as fictional as Gazidis’ War Chest blathering cleverly timed in relation to supporters’ meetings and season ticket sales windows.

And to suggest the World Cup does not have an effect on transfer dealings is equally fictional. Players will want the shop window. So will their current clubs. And remember agents?

And let’s be honest. If City wants Draxler, Morata, or whomever it is we’re in for, our only chance is the lure of playing for Wenger or playing the Arsenal way.

mastaofthegoonaverse seems to be the only person that’s hit the right point, in my mind. It’s not a question of whether Wenger is a genius or a ditherer. I personally think he’s both. Currently, we are the 4th most powerful club in the EPL. Maybe equal 4th with Liverpool. That’s like Schalke fans whining about not getting Cavani or Falcao. Why can’t the manager do it? Why does he always fuck this up? The answer is, because the player looks at the league and says “I’m not going to play for a team that finishes 3rd at best”. They want to play for a team that can win. Real, Barca, Bayern, the two blue teams, or United. Arsenal, while certainly better than any other 4th placed teams in Europe are currently a victim of circumstance. Oil money. Dirty money. It’s that simple. If FFP actually works (probably won’t), then roll on big name signings, but until then, please celebrate signings like Ozil, fortuitous though they are. Another sneaky win like that and we might get somewhere, but don’t hold your breath.

I love Wenger, but I don’t think he’s bigger than the club, and I agree with what Blogs has said before – before asking ourselves if Wenger is good enough, ask ourselves is there anyone better (and available) to take his place? Again, it’s that simple.

The world cup is not a new phenomenon if managers are unable to learn how to effectively deal with the transfer market with the distraction of the world cup they are not very clever! Its something they have to deal with every few years they should stop complaining and get on with what they NEED to do, no excuses.

I’m not saying we won’t bring anyone in. I’m just saying I’m tired of the excuses.

Get the job done. It’s a difficult one, yes. We understand everything is much more complex than we realize. But it’s not just the two oil clubs that manage to address their squad needs in a transfer window. We didn’t do it last summer, and we didn’t do it in January, and in both windows there were plenty of excuses made. That we ended up with Ozil is incredible, but you can’t convince me that it was part of the plan all along.

Metersecker is top top top top quality but I seem to recall most thought him a panic buy.

Ditto Koscielny.

Giroud has been roundly criticised but has plundered almost as many league goals as Aguero this season and 6 more than Negredo. he also has a healthy assist rate for a limited striker. Wenger who is roundly criticised for buying injury prone players has bought a robust product in Giroud and again not for a lot of money.

i like giroud but you seriously need to stop bringing up the aguero comparison.
all wenger had to do is say “there will be activity in the summer” and leave it at that. don’t know why he says these things when the mood amongst the fans is so evident.

Santori can you give us a goals per game ratio between Aguero and Giroud please ? I don’t put Giroud in the same class as your Wrights, Anelka’s, Bergkamp’s, Henry’s, and Van Persies of this world. The thing is these are the players that us Gooners are used to leading the line for us. Happy to have Giroud as Squad player but a Striker is a must. This doesn’t have to be a 40 million plus player Bony has scored 24 goals in a struggling Swansea side imagine what he can do in front of our Midfield !

Yeah, after playing a bazillion games 21 goals is what we should be happy with. pfft… I won’t even bring TH14 into this argument, because even the twat leading the line down the road scored 30 goals in one season for us, never mind a million 1-on-1s he bottled in the same season.

If Chamakh had been allowed to complete his first season as our main striker I could easily see him matching Giroud’s feat this season, or better. When he was clean through on goal in the last game, tell me you didn’t already know he’d try to blast the ball through the ‘keeper like he’s some translucent Tesco plastic bag.

Honestly, how many times this season (well, if you’ve been watching the games) have his team mates thrown him THAT LOOK like Ozil did. (Gibbs vs West Ham, Sagna vs ManUre after seeing many teasing crosses gone begging, Ozil in countless other matches).

True…if we hadn’t lost to Villa first game of the season, do you think he would have signed Ozil ? Who knows… it was a last minute signing, a big name to calm the supporters, wenger got away with it in my opinion.

That’s bullshit. Özil himself said he was contacted a few weeks earlier about a transfer. How the hell can you get a player like Özil on the last day of the transfermarket without some sort of negotiations? Real probably wanted more for him, but we just waited them out and got him for an okey price.

right, we sign a world class player, and not cheaply, and still you and others find room in it to complain…

Shame on Arsene, that a manager should use external forces to snap up a world class player for his squad, for shame!

Yes we often get reasons why the window will be difficult… and they’re always logical reasons causing real difficulties, yes it would be nice to see early moves but it takes 3, so it baffles me why only 1 of the 3 picks up all the blame, the very players who people clamor for us to sign are more difficult to sign, with more resistant clubs and yet more unrealistically greedy agents and yet our manager is beaten over the head EVERY YEAR by the fans as the sole reason things are late? wake up people.

& here we go. After all the facts about how the petty fckn Sp*rs tried to sabotage our deal with Real, etc has already been out there all these time, there’s still people who thinks the Ozil deal was unplanned & last minute. Zzz..

eh i dont have high expectations regarding the transfer market. i agree about Ozil and supported Ransey. Theo not as much. there are atleast 3 areas that need to be strengthened. the jan window doesnt exist for us anyway. Cmon Argentina.

1) Quality of player
2) Motivation of Agent
3) Selling club, have they got a replacement
4) Price, do they think it will climb if player is IN the world cup
5) Alternates, who else may move onto market later

c’mon….other clubs attain there targets. its no secret we do not. these comments by prof are disturbing. even with our newly found wealth we are still going to act like we just now built the emirates all over again?

The last thing we need to concern ourselves with at the moment is at midfield. We are packed deep.

Arteta is good for another season. Flamini is there, Kallstrom can always be roped in for cheap and effective.

We have bigger concerns. 3 players may/likely leave.

We need a striker who can bring something different to how we play with Giroud.

No surprise we are effective against parked buses with Giroud. he offers a muscularity to our approach and is better in confined space.

Its when the space opens up that he struggles to translate the extra yard.

It’s not cover we need up top but capability. We need the added pace and a bit of creativity.

No surprise then that Wenger was going after Suarez and before that Higuain. That is the sort of caliber and skill set Wenger is after but he will likely not exceed a certain price.

His 70m war chest has to also take into account the 3 replacements and the striker so likely the striker will be up to 40m no more leaving 30m for 3 other positions (not to mention contract improvements, wages and younger players to add to Academy) It all adds up. We do not live in a dream world.

Same excuses every seasons. If the club has identify that a World Cup year has it problem in recuriting, then just make contingency plans to counter such issues, like doing business early. We signed while Giroud at the midst of Euro. It can be done. Its whether the club is willing to do it. Its really mind-boggling that a club of our status are seemingly just leaving things to circumstances instead of finding solution around it.

Giroud was not a player that was in heavy demand and he had motivation to come to Arsenal because he felt Wenger could improve him being a late bloomer.

Someone like Ozil is entirely diffrent.

I see a bunch of people criticising Dick Law for chasing joel Campbell. he has had a great season at Olympiakos. Also Dick Law handled Ozil.

…had we let out on Ozil earlier, I am quite sure he would not be for want of suitors.

Patience is a virtue. Discretion too. No we were not after MVilla, Wanyama or a host of other players the press like to link us too and the lazy believe hook line and sinker. We were after Ozil and the ground work was done ahead of time.

You think Madrid has a preferance to sell to us only? Some work had to be done behind the scenes to manouver the deal discretely toward our direction.

It cannot be rushed. Madrid had to get their man Bale.

At the same time this summer, if we say want Benzema, it stands to reason that Madrid will wait till they get their man (say Suarez or Falcao or both) before selling benzema.

And why sell the player too soon if you are the agent when he will be in lights for the world cup?

Quite obviously the agent is another party that factors into the scenario.

if Wenger thinks say he wants Benzema and the selling club is confident of securing a striker in his place, and if the agent doesn’t feel greedy to push his client to wait out the world cup for more suitors and a higher price, and if the player is motivated to come to us, then we can talk price.

Santori plz stop banging the Ozil drum, we got Ozil as a last minute cause Wenger failed to get Suarez or even Higuian. Oil money has nothing to do with the players we have failed to sign (Suarez or Higuian) just Wenger doing what he has done best for a long time – Failed to close a deal.

It seems logical Ozil would not be allowed to move if Bale is not signed.

If Wenger has it in his ear that Ozil may likely come available (but Bale is taking a longer while than expected) cos it will affect his transfer dealings with regard the striker.

He has say 70-80m to spend last summer.

If he has to allocate somewhere around 45m for Ozil, then he has less money to gamble on ths striker aforehand.

therefore the reason why he does not want to enter into a price bidding war with Napoli over Higuain 235m and why he is reluctant to go higher than 40-45m for Suarez.

our budget is subject to turning profit and finite (unlike City and Chelsea)

without which we won’t be able to self finance ourselves and attract investment for the stadium build and more.

whether Wenger’s intelligence on Liverpool’s intentions were faulty and whether he waited on Suarez too long before missing secondary targets is another thing.

I’m not even sure what excuses you think he is making.

he bought a top top top top top quality signing in Ozil for 42.3m when most numpties here castigate him for refusing to spend over the odds on a player.

So the tune changes to he did not bring in enough players and should have spent the money on lesser quality but more players (like say Spurs with 100m)

Neglecting of course we also covered keepers and brought in an extremely effective Flamini for nothing which pretty much debunks the myth that SPENDING is the only means to success (granted we were left short of a striker)

There is also as he mentions, organic development to consider (Walcott and RAMSEY) which none here would give him credit for likely. They would have rather Wenger sold these players and bought new toys…again Spurs.

Spurs have had a slew of media hyped ‘progressive managers’ all of which have spent a ton of money and none any closer to consecutive CL qualification let alone 17 seasons or indeed an FA cup this year.

As Wenger mentions, we have depth in this squad enough to compete agianst even City. there are a couple of shortfalls chiefly at Cback (partially covered by Kallstrom which afford Flamini to go to RB in lieu of Sagna) and definitely at CF.

Remember though that Giroud has scored 21 goals this season 15 in league which is 6 better than Negredo and one less then Aguero. he also has an impressive assists rate and is more robust where most again get hissy about Wenger buying injury prone players.

We need to firstly cover some departures. Two of which actually illustrate the difficulty of keepinga large squad happy. Both Fabianski and vermaelen cannot get enough games which is the motivation for their leaving!

Then the striker situation has to be sorted out.

There is of course as well organic improvement from within with the squad getting (Ozil in particular0 better familiarized with each other.

Unless you plan to spend heavy, most clubs will do business very close to the end. If you have had any real experience haggling, that IS the way things are down. You get the true price when you walk away. Had we spent early on say grenier (PANIC buy as prescribed by most posters here) we would not have gotten Ozil.

Wenger has bought quality. he has bought panic buys Arteta, Koscielny and Metersecker. Arteta he converted into a useful CDM just as he did Toure into a Cback for the invincibles and henry into a srtriker. you think you know better?

Fans like this have their heads stuck so far up the arse they don’t know it. Reality is different from FIFA14.

We face problems in completing deals because we don’t pay shitload of agent fees. Agents drive these transfers and expedite the process – when you don’t pay them well, obviously you’re going to face delays. And I think the club is right in not paying the most useless party in the transaction super-normal money just so he can quicken your dealings.

On the flip side, Wenger has bought a number of duds (particularly in recent seasons where he has been forced to gamble a bit more with pressure in market from top and bottom of spending power)

but he reduces exposure to loss because in general he has never exceeded a certain limit and spent low

We have built up the club and fan base because :

1) Wenger has been successful in early seasons with doubles and title wins

2) We have been frugal with money and able to self finance a large degree

3) We have made money on player sales buying low and selling high

4) We have increase fanbase because of success at club brought by Wenger and brand of football

5) we have led the way in the development(Ramsey, Walcott recently), re-interpretation (Henry, Toure, Arteta)and now redevelopment (metersecker, poodlski) of players

Without which I very much doubt you will secure a loan from financial institutions to do it our self financed way. You would need a sugar daddy.

We paid for Ozil and showed we can do it but we still hear whingers complaining about Wenger not spending.

We pay nothing for Flamini who brings an equal importance in measure to the side and you don’t hear these same whingers lauding this sort of purchase.

How much did Metersecker cost? Koscileny? Arteta? These were what these same whingers called panic buys by Wenger.

they are frankly full of themselves.

not to excuse Wenger’s other failings but in large parts, Wenger flatters to deceive because he is good at spotting, buying and developing players and he generally does not pay stupid money (like say Spurs). Why would you?

forgive them for they do not know…when the Prof has retired with his zipper bag to the South of France to write his masterpiece about how movement and stillness are the essence of football, they will , one hope, realise what a good coach, servant of Arsenal and all-round human being he is…it will be too late then…

Unless the player is motivated to come only to Arsenal, the agent is not greedy (which means he is useless), the selling club want to only sell to Arsenal and there are no other parties interested in the product, then sure we can sign them on early.

i dont like the sound of this one bit. the world of football is a ruthless one. we have experienced it first hand when the big money clubs come knocking for our players. last summer ivan said we are now in the big league or something to that effect. so these comments from wenger are really really disturbing. if 3 players leave then even 2 top top quality signings wont be enough. if the 3 stay still 2 top quality signings wont be enough.
we were told we have financial muscle….lets prove it by getting our targets this summer…on time ffs.

Just my two pence here: given our luck,we transfer the mega striker/dm/cb/lb ,BEFORE the WC throwing our “chest war” at him. We are all happy watching him during the WC,but due to our Lady Furtune watching over us, he gets a nasty injury say ACL,broken leg ,one that keeps him out for a season. What then? Newspaper reaction:”Arsenal transfered an injured players for a gazillion pounds. HE WAS IN THE RED ZONE” Eh?

Mind you I’d love to have some early transfers (safe but top quality options,no WC)

The same bullshit as always. He won’t change! We need two keepers, two cd if TV leaves, one fullback (to replace one of the best fullbacks in the world), one holding mid, at least one world class striker and a new manager.

So it begins the excuses and the nonsense. We are close are we Arsene? We are set to lose Vern, Fab and Sagna. In addition to covering these positions we need 3-4 reinforcements.

This kind of talk is setting us up for a summer of frustration and nonsensical brinkmanship. Is Wenger seriously trying to say that players can not be signed before the world cup, before the value of certain players on our radar increases anymore?!

To challenge for the title this tear we had the excellent Giroud, The raw Sanago and The prodigal son Bendtner. For a top club is this acceptable?

The usual bollox before a transfer window. Get the excuses in early. Like we never knew they were already coming.
We need already at least 5 new players that’s if we only lose the 3 we think we will. I won’t be holding my breath this summer that’s for sure. Our great chance was this season with the top clubs in transition. Chelsea will buy big, Liverpool will buy clever and city already have a great squad and man u with van gal will improve massively.
We fucked up big time this season. Next season will be even tougher and I’m not sure the people at the club are capable of making the signings we need let alone willing to spend the money.

The essence of what AW is saying is two things: we aren’t going to buy a large a number of players, and those that we do might not arrive early in the transfer window – so be patient. Some say this is the same old making of excuses, I say it is actually consistency and consistent with the club’s model and ethos (whether you agree with that or not is another thing entirely):

1. Arsenal are framed first and foremost by the business model of being a financial self-sustaining club with an emphasis on identifying and developing young players – not, I think, because of being cheapskate but due to the desire to a) develop a strong sense of bonding and camaraderie between the squad from a young age so as to develop as strong an on-pitch understanding as possible b) to avoid wherever possible paying the increasingly exorbitant fees involved in the transfers of players.

2. With that in mind, if AW/Arsenal are going to buy in players I think the method in future will only be (alongside taking the occasional relatively cheap punt on potential) to go big for a small number of established, proven elite players – hence Özil, and hence also why Arsene is not in favour of splurging a large amount of money on players who are all of a more or less of average to above average quality – note, Tim Sherwood said recently that he doesn’t know what his best starting XI is because he has so many players at a similar level. This is also why AW wasn’t willing to pony up too much for Draxler, who still has an awful lot to prove.

3. The thing about the last point, and this is where Arsenal’s transfer strategy really encounters its biggest challenge and the club needs to figure out how to raise its game, is that those kind of elite players are extremely hard to come by – to a certain extent, there is a degree of fortuity for Arsenal to even being able to secure them in the first place, especially in the face of likely competition from the oil clubs and RM, Bayern, as well as Barca. Hence, again, Özil coming in on the last day of the season only once Bale’s transfer had gone through.

4. I think that, in response to the dilemma of the last point, Arsenal would do well to identify one world-class player in a position that clearly needs strengthening and really go in hard and fast to incentivize that transfer as far as possible. Maybe they have already started following that strategy, even if it didn’t come off last time (Suarez).

This summer window, I’d pony up 50 million pounds + for Paul Pogba (who claims to have dreamt of playing for us, how ever much store can be set against such things) as soon as possible, what a statement of intent his signing would be and how it would silence both your own critics in terms of transfer activity and also really put Arsenal among the very top clubs by having signed the best young CDM in the world. Along with him, I think you could successfully bring in a couple of decent striking options at not too high a cost – Morata, Drmic – and have an absolutely amazing squad … all within our budget. Hope someone close to AW is reading, if not the big man himself!

No disrespect but santori sounds like an auto robot. Making the same point irrespective of what the argument is. Did martinez spend as much arsenal did last season? Can everton season be seen as failure? Barret gale was there for us to loan yet wenger did noting . All wenger needed doing was to sign a player or two in january window and we should havr been crowned epl champions by now. Its not necessary gbringing in a big name , just get average players to add to your depth. Its nots algebra but just common sense. With david moyes we could see fergies magic…plenty squad players and 3 world class players

I can’t help but laugh at some of these comments. People forget the massive financial restrictions Wenger had to operate on since he decided to lead the Emirates Stadium project, a project that has essentially given the club financial stability for decades to come. Ya know, meaning that long after he’s gone, his successors won’t have to endure the period he has gone through.

Wenger has never been against spending; he’s simply against spending what the club does not have. Instead of amassing huge amounts of debt (Barca are in immense debt atm, by the way), he’s opted to operate on the budget that he’s been allotted by the club. Now that we’ve secured deals that will finally take care of the stadium debts, he’s ready to flex the club’s financial muscle on the market. But, he will NOT spend it on players who do not ADD to his squad, only on quality players (i.e Oezil). That is the exact reason why he didn’t spend in January–the quality players he thought the club needed were not available.

Also, he’s been front and center in the fight for financial fair play, and the man is no hypocrite. He doesn’t just care about Arsenal–which I’m sure he does much more than you can claim yourselves–he genuinely cares about the game itself. FFP rules being reinforced means that smaller clubs will actually have a fighting chance in today’s market. True geniuses prevent problems, and that is exactly what he’s been doing since he arrived in London in 1996.

I hate transfer windows. Constant rubbish and lies and speculation. It basically serves to set up lies about who we will buy and then criticise our ‘failure’ to land someone who was never on our radar, further irritating the fans of our wonderful club who believe as is their right that new signings are the answer, then leading to the world of football having a dejected feeling about arsenal before the next season even starts. It’s so tiresome. Firstly I’d love a couple of signings, a replacement for Sagna should he choose to leave, and a striker. But then with our full squad fit we were top of the league and as wenger says – we are very close. So what would people prefer? That we do away with our youth system and just buy big stars like the clubs we criticise? Really? I read some prat in the paper even question wengers commitment to youth because he bought ozil and had people waiting to come through and the muppet even mentioned the sale of frimpong. As much as I want to see a suares or costa or even a cavani up front for us to help out giroud I wouldn’t abandon the principles of our club that seperate us from others altogether. It’s also worth remembering how many people have told us we should have bought/were failures because we didn’t buy the likes of Michu, benteke, villa, ba…

Basically. It’s how much can the club spend and how much are they willing to spend. It’s also about finding the balance between spending and returns as well as opportunity cost.
Simply we can’t afford the best players. But does that mean we should start paying more for players that are not exactly what we want, taking into consideration that if we find the right person, we have already spent the transfer and wages on another person already.

A question to the wise people in here who are clamoring for 6-7 top quality new players, can you give any explanation (logical) as to how they will make the team so much better(not to mention how they would provide fit in in a 25 man squad).
One might not like it but Wenger is correct that we need at the max 4 quality players to complete. The like of Campbell can provide depth.
As santori points out the only area we are really lacking is up front.

Bunburyist – How many times have we been here though, yes it’s the same shpill but exactly what do want him to say? ‘We have billions in the bank, we want 15 new world class, un-injurable players and the current team can go rot!’ I know he’s said it before and then gone on to disappoint in the transfer market but at this stage he can say nothing more?? Irrespective of what happens this close season.

The players have agents. They will be spending all day, every day on the phone. Arsenal should try calling a few and sorting out some deals. The World Cup is just a big excuse for not getting on with it.

Perhaps the problem is Arsene? No doubt he’ll be spending his time being a pundit on French TV and won’t have the time to approve anyone being signed.

Ozil deal wasn’t just last min it was all on the deal for bale as Tottenham want the deal to have in it that no player would be sold to us to make room for bale Tottenham was told no the bale deal was heading down the pan Tottenham had spent up so backed down both deals needed the other to happen yes we should act faster to get plays in but buying before a world cup can be bad what if we pay 30m for someone that breaks there leg yes it sounds like same old story but that’s life as a gunner

The problem is that most people prefer to blame Arsene’s limitations as a manager on financial restrictions.

In my view Arsene has often mismanaged the considerable finds that he has had and his philosophical approach to tactics gets exposed over and over again, in the exact same way, press and counterattack.

I could write a whole essay, but ill leave that to Santori in his inevitable response.

Regarding Atletico first up I do laud them for their guts and passion. But the thing is they can keep winning with those ‘inexpensive’ players since besides Real, Barca and maybe a couple others, the level of competition in La Liga is pretty poor. Thus they rotate more and have fewer injuries. Also unlike Arsenal, Atletico also play a thuggish type of football, not too different from what Chelsea and Maureen do, so they are less likely to get beaten against the better siides. And finally, they have the flaming hot Diego Costa fit for the entire season. It’s like imagine where we’d be if Rambo was fit through the season. And imagine where they’d be if Costa was not…

After all these years people still believe everything Wenger says to the media. The man keeps his cards close to his chest in regards to transfers. Whatever he says to the media should be taken with a pinch of salt.

I choose to believe that this time we’re gonna buy well. Seems the boss wants Poldi and Verm to stay. So our shopping list would pronably be :-
1. Pacy winger that can score. Here we have been linked mainly to Drmic and Griezmann

2. A RB ; I want to trust Jenko but I’m just not sure about him. Mainly linked to Serge Aurier (arsenal fan) or Sebastian Jung.

3.Striker…hopefully this is wjere we spend the big bucks…I don’t really know who we can get. Mandzukic seems content to stay at Bayern and Cavani would be too expensive. Not to mention Costa has moved to Chelsea already. Tough call. Maybe Loic Remy.

Wait for the World Cup and listen. Listen to the maount of times you hear a commentator say ”He’ll be entertaining the fans of *(insert club name…just not ours) next season as he’s agreed a pre-contract”.

I can gaurantee that you’ll hear it about twenty times at least.

No excuse. It may be difficult, but what’s the harm in trying as soon as the window opens? You can bet that other clubs will be doing it. If the target tells you to wait until the WC is over…fair enough. Try and get the other targets and come back to him later. . I love Wenger but enough with the excuses when it comes to transfers. We have the money and the time. It just needs the effort. Starting as early as possible.

Wenger says 2 or 3 signings. That’s replacements for Fabianski and Coleman, and an Özil quality player if one becomes available, in whatever position. Anyone fantasizing about more than that is going to be disappointed.

What I like about Wenger is, he doesn’t like to give away too much when asked about transfer questions. He likes to keep things tight lipped, if the world knew everything he did, where’s the element of surprise? That’s why there’s no surprising other teams anymore because the world knows everything before does. So I back mr Wenger for not answering questions on transfer fronts, injuries and team selections. He has to have some anonymity no?

I wish he hadn’t said this. He could have just avoided the questions telling he is concentrating only on end of season targets (CL-Quali and FA Cup) and not thinking about transfers. Simple. Making such statements result in just agitating the fans who want him out and not want him to sign a contract.

Drmic is as good as IN (Lothar Matthäus gets it right). Rumors about Lars Bender abound. I believe we get atleast 2 players before WC.

I believe, our title challenge faltered because of just 1-2 missing links, who we needed to compensate for injuries.

The only thing more predictable than these quotes is the armchair managers losing their shit over them.

All Wenger’s really said is that we’ll take a quality over quantity approach this summer, and that there won’t be a major overhaul to a squad which has had a very good season (if we win the cup, that is.) I’d be a bit confused if he said we were going to do what Spurs did last summer, frankly.

Playing Devils advocate somewhat but its a highly competitive tournament held in conditions that players are not accustomed just after challenging and thus tiring seasons in Spain and England at least. There’s something to be said for not outluying a massive amount on someone who then gets injured in Brazil.

still this is Bollox from Wenger that didn’t need to be said – sort your shit out Arsene, youve embarresed yourself in too many tansfer windows of late.

the pr campaign started with the injuries excuse.
injuires to the defence? that cause your team to fall apart on numerous occasions?

injuries cause you to sot on your arse though everyone of those games…and not change anything when your teams getting ripped to pieces. your players get pressed and give the ball away equals counter at and goal…again and again.

That’s tactical naïveté. Unfortunately we have come to expect that from Arsene against top opposition managers.
Imagine a general sending his troops out to “just do their thing” without thinking about the opposition. Then when he sees his soldiers are getting slaughtered, doesn’t even change the tactic. Then he goes on to repeat the same fucking mistakes in the next battle and then the next one.

I don’t blame the soldiers or the equipment, I blame the long serving general.

There is cheap players with loads of potential out there as well Eg. Drmic who scored 16 goals in the Bündesliga this season, and is playing for a team which fight for survival in the Bündesliga also he is just 21 years old. Also there is a young striker/winger named David Accam with loads of potential, Manchester United appear to be interested, follow this link and you’ll see what I mean:

Reminds me of Robben but with way more speed, ofcourse maybe not a first choice striker but he got loads loads of potential. Speed is exactly what we need upfront.. And someone who is capable of challenging in 1vs1 situations.

People are over-reacting here, Wenger is right. Do we even need a rb with Bellerin waiting in the wings? I say no. Tie Viviano down to a long-term contract after his impressive season this time around. Then just add one player with that extra bit of class who could play on the flank or cover up for Giroud. And that player is Solomon Kalou. Alas, we’ll have to wait until after the cup for that bit of business. If he has a decent world cup it might add to the price and we’ll have to look elsewhere. We’re not Man City after all, fans need to get in the real world.

Anyway, with Kalou and co ready for next season, I predict a completely injury-free season for us with Abou Diaby playing a key role in our inevitable title victory. COYG!!!!!!!